1492 – Reconquista: the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders. Once they run the Muslims out, they can go discover the New World.

1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded. There’s no such thing as a ‘civil’ engineer. They’re all assholes.

1890 – Record 19 foot 2 inch alligator shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny. He’s the son of the McIlhenny that brought Tabasco pepper sauce to the world.

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrenders at Port Arthur, China. The Japanese mis-read the reasons for this event and get cocky. In forty years their perspective will be energetically corrected.

1920 – The second Palmer Raid takes place with another 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids take place in several U.S. cities. If we did that today, we’d practically gut the dimmocrat party and academia.

1921 – World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Capek in a theater in Hradec Králové. This is where we get the word “robot”.

1974 – President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo. Enforcement of the new limits is used as a form of revenue enhancement nationwide and develops a nation full of scoff-laws. “Collect and Serve” is the motto of many police departments now.

1999 – A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, where temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C); 68 deaths are reported. Da*n global warming!